A Whole lot of Holes

The drill press is now set for holes, with the table top I made last month. This is required because I need quite a bit of clamping pressure when I am drilling a 4 1/4 inch hole through 1 1/2 of material.

So… each lateral support that needs a hole or two has a corresponding pattern with a hole that matches the center drill of the hole cutting saw.

Stack 3 verticals, screw together. Align the pattern and drill the center hole(s). Remove the pattern and trace the hole that is going to be cut. This lets me clearly see if there are any screws that will be eaten by the whole saw. I also need to place a couple of screws in the soon-to-be-hole or else it will be very tough to remove the hole once it has been cut.

Now clamp and cut halfway through. Flip and finish the hole. Flipping also helps remove the waste circles, since the second cut only cuts halfway, there is plenty of hole to grab onto for the removal.

If it’s not done this way, removal takes more time than all of the setup. This way… removal of the holes is super fast.